Pay our members’ outstanding salaries, allowances — TUC pleads to Bello

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has appealed to the Kogi government to source for funds to pay its members their outstanding salaries and allowances.

Mr Ranti Ojo, the Chairman of the state chapter of TUC, made the appeal in Lokoja on Thursday while speaking at the 4th Triennial Delegates’ Conference of the congress.

“Aside the staggering arrears of salary, TUC members are grossly being owed leave bonus, annual increment and implementation of promotion, spanning over five years,” Ojo said.

According to him, the state government still owes members of TUC 30 per cent of August to December 2017 salaries and other arrears which is three months of the old minimum wage

“There are other legitimate entitlements of workers that have remained outstanding over years. Leave bonus for instance has not been paid since the inception of Gov. Yahaya Bello-led administration.

“We hereby use this occasion to passionately appeal to the governor to make a difference in this regard by paying the entire arrears of leave bonus.”

He, however, commended the state government for releasing N100 million for the payment of backlog of gratuities to workers.

The TUC Chairman expressed reservation over the mode of disbursement of the money by the state government.

“A situation where a worker whose gratuity supposed to be N7 million is given only N100, 000 makes a caricature of the payment.

“We hereby suggest that government should make the payment meaningful by paying fully and in batches to the beneficiaries, using the principle of First-in-First-out (FIFO).”

In his speech, the former head of media and programme TUC, Mr Onyeka Chris, advised union leaders to always bear in mind that the survival of any organisation depended on the commitment of its leaders.

He urged the new executives of TUC to be up and doing in the interest of their members who depended on them for adequate welfare.

At the end of the conference, Ojo and other members of the his executive were returned unopposed by the delegates for another three years.